2012 Conference

University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario

May 30 – June 2, 2012

Environmental Knowledge: People and Change

The Environmental Studies Association of Canada (ESAC) is pleased to invite you to participate in its annual conference at the University of Waterloo as part of the Congress of the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences 2012.
Bill McKibben will be this year’s keynote speaker at the ESAC Conference.

Call for papers, panels and posters is January 20, 2012. NOTE: DEADLINE EXTENDED to February 20, 2012.

Register for the ESAC conference by first registering for Congress 2012.

Travel grants are available for students to get to and from Waterloo. Download the application form here and send it to esaceecom@gmail.com and esac@uwaterloo.ca by February 1st, 2012.

Download the ESAC Conference poster and post around your faculty or department (click image for full-size poster).

Join ESAC. Organize a panel. Present a paper. Create a poster.

Founded in 1959, York University offers a world-class, modern, interdisciplinary academic experience in Toronto, Canada’s most multicultural city.  York is at the centre of innovation, with a thriving community of almost 60,000 faculty, staff and students who challenge the ordinary and deliver the unexpected.  The University has 10 faculties, offering over 5,000 courses and degrees at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels.  York is Canada’s third-largest university, with over 240,000 alumni, an operating budget of $890 million and over 280 international partnerships.  More information is available at www.yorku.ca.

The Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES), established in 1968, redefines the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of environmental studies.  FES is committed to social and environmental justice and equity, to collaborative approaches, and to fostering interdisciplinary exploration through the intersection of the humanities, social sciences, arts and natural sciences.  The Faculty provides unsurpassed opportunities for teaching, learning, and research on a range of theoretical and applied environmental issues.  It offers students the flexibility to pursue their individual learning objectives, as well as opportunities for joint study with other Faculties.   FES currently has a full-time faculty complement of approximately 40 and a student population of almost 1300, pursuing undergraduate (BES) and graduate (MES and PhD) programs. The Faculty engages in significant outreach and partnership activities locally and internationally.  Additional information about FES is available at www.yorku.ca/fes.

The Dean is the chief academic and administrative officer of the Faculty, and leads the Faculty in its teaching, research and service missions, as well as directing its budget, general administration and future development. She or he is an important member of York’s senior leadership team, contributing to the future directions of the University. The successful candidate will bring a strong record of academic and administrative experience and leadership to this position.

York University is an Affirmative Action Employer. The Affirmative Action Program can be found on York’s website at www.yorku.ca/acadjobs/. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply.

The search committee will begin reviewing applications in January and will continue until the position is successfully filled.  Please respond electronically, in confidence, with a letter of introduction and a curriculum vitae that includes the names of three references (who will not be contacted without the consent of the applicant) to the University’s consultant:

Laverne Smith & Associates Inc.

1 Yonge Street, Suite 1801

Toronto, ON  M5E 1W7

York@lavernesmith.com

The Food Studies program and the Institute for Advanced Study at Indiana University are pleased to announce a one-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Food Studies sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through their Sawyer Seminar program.  One Fellow will be selected on the basis of accomplishment, promise of excellence, and relevance of their research and interests to the 2012-13 seminar theme: Food Choice, Freedom, and Politics.  (See our website below for more information on the seminar theme and plans.)
The postdoctoral fellow will assist the seminar organizers in planning, and will then participate in, a year-long seminar on food choice, decisions, and diet, which will involve scholars from a wide variety of disciplines.  The seminar is aimed at provoking new thinking about how “choice” is conceptualized in different scholarly traditions and how these different perspectives can promote understanding about food behavior. The fields will include economics and psychology where the focus is the individual, cultural anthropology, and sociology, which embed choice in cultural, social, and ethnic collectivities, and biological anthropology and evolutionary psychology, which seek an underlying adaptive basis for food preferences. The postdoctoral fellow will also assist in planning two conferences associated with the seminar, one on emerging models for interdisciplinary food studies, and the other on translating food choice research into public policy. Both will include experts in food studies from around the world. The fellow will also have time to pursue his or her own research and writing projects, and should describe these research goals and how they connect with the rich community of food scholars at IU in the letter of application.

Fellowship begins 1 July 2012.
Eligibility: Ph.D. between 1 July 2007 and 30 May 2012.
Compensation: $46,000 plus full benefits
Application Deadline: January 31, 2012

To apply, please email the following items to Ivona Hedin, Academic Specialist, Institute for Advanced Study (ihedin@indiana.edu):
1.  2-3 page letter of application explaining the link(s) between your research and the 2012-2013 theme, outlining the research to be undertaken during the fellowship
2.  full curriculum vitae
3.  names and email addresses of three referees.
4.  graduate school transcript

If you prefer, you may mail the above items to the Institute for Advanced Study, Poplars 335, 400 East Seventh Street, Bloomington, IN  47405, Attn: Food Studies Postdoc Search.
For more information, contact seminar organizers:
Richard Wilk, 812-855-3901, wilkr@indiana.edu
Peter Todd, 812-855-3914, pmtodd@indiana.edu
Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~foodsci/

Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.  Women and Minorities are Strongly Encouraged to Apply.

Environmental Studies Association of Canada (ESAC)

2012 Conference

University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario

May 30 – June 2, 2012

Environmental Knowledge: People and Change

The Environmental Studies Association of Canada (ESAC) is pleased to invite you to participate in its annual conference at the University of Waterloo as part of the Congress of the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences 2012.

As Canada’s leading association of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners involved in a diversity of environmental fields, ESAC facilitates networking and dialogue across environment-related fields and practices. The 2012 ESAC conference provides a unique opportunity for delegates to take part in a lively exchange of ideas relating to sustainability among a broad range of students, academic researchers, members of NGOs, community groups, and the public and private sector academics, practitioners, policy makers, and activists.

We are pleased to announce a partnership with the Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication (EECOM). EECOM is Canada’s only national, bilingual, charitable network for environmental learning. EECOM works strategically and collaboratively to advance environmental   to ensure Canadians are environmentally literate, engaged in environmental stewardship and contributing to a healthy, sustainable future.

As ESAC and EECOM collaborate with each other, the 2012 conference provides a unique opportunity for delegates to take part in a lively exchange of ideas relating to the environment among students, researchers, members of NGOs, community groups, the public and private sector, academics, practitioners, policy makers, and activists. All are encouraged to submit papers, panels or posters on a broad range of issues and case studies, including:

• Knowledge and Environment; Environmental Education; Sustainable Livelihoods; Climate Change; Community Resilience and Sustainability; Politics of Environmental Knowledge; Indigenous Peoples and Environment; Sustainable Development; Environmental Policy; Sustainable Food Systems; Gender and Environment; Environmental Education; Marketing Sustainability; Resource Management; Sustainable Consumption / Production; Environmental and Ecological Economics.
• Making Ourselves Useful (sub-theme) – academia and environmental knowledge; interdisciplinarity and environmental study; critical case studies in academic environmental programming.

This year’s conference theme, “Environmental Knowledge: People and Change”, is reflected in the synergy of events at this year’s conference.

May 30: ESAC Opening Plenary and Program, Keynote Speaker in partnership with Alternatives Magazine: Bill McKibben of 350.org.

Making Ourselves Useful: Environmental Scholarship in an Unsustainable World hosted by ESAC and organized by Douglas MacDonald (UoT) and Tim Leduc (York). We hope to organize one or more panels to complement the conference on environmental scholarship. Papers on any aspect of that subject are invited.

May 31: Making Ourselves Useful, ESAC/EECOM Poster Competition and Wine and Cheese event

June 1: ESAC/EECOM joint programming

June 2: Joint ESAC/EECOM fieldtrips

The deadline for submissions is January 20, 2012.

Submissions should be made by email to esaceecom.2012@gmail.com (see detailed instructions below)

Submission instructions

Submissions could be for any of the following:

• Panel or workshop sessions: Coordinators should be willing to organise a self contained session of 1 to 1.5 hours –proposal does not necessarily require the individual speakers.
• Individual papers of 15-20 mins long
• Poster for entry into the ESAC Poster Competition open to all undergraduate and graduate students for further details when available see www.esac.ca

Submissions should include:

• Abstract of 300 words or less including

§  Object of study or theme of session

§  Theoretical framework, concept or research question/objective

§  Methodology or practice

§  Main conclusions

§  Relevance to the theme of environmental education and knowledge

• Interest in being in ESAC, EECOM or Making Ourselves Useful
• At least three keywords to assist the conference committee in assigning your paper to an appropriate session if not a sessions or workshop proposal
• An expression of interest in including your paper in an ESAC 2012 proceedings^*
• Institutional affiliation
• Contact email

Please E-mail general ESAC or EECOM submissions to esaceecom.2012@gmail.com

Please E-mail submission for Making Ourselves Useful to douglas.macdonald@utoronto.ca

All submissions will be evaluated by an ESAC conference committee and acceptance emails will be sent out in early March.

You must be an ESAC or EECOM member in good standing to present a paper, poster or panel at the conference.

All delegates should register at the Congress of the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences

Conference registration begins in January 2012

ESAC Travel grants will be available to Graduate or Undergraduate students who are also ESAC members in good standing. You must complete and email the form available at esac.ca to chris.ling@royalroads.ca. Value of the grant awarded will depend on the number of eligible applicants; distance travelled and funding received by ESAC. Successful applicants will be notified with approximate grant value in early March.

^*Publication of papers: ESAC is currently exploring options of publishing the proceedings of this year’s conference. Papers included in a proceedings publication will be peer reviewed prior to publication. To help solicit the level of interest in this project, please note in your proposal whether you would be interested in having your paper published as part of the ESAC Conference Proceedings.

Please visit www.esac.ca for further information and announcements.

For more information please email esaceecom.2012@gmail.com

Chris Ling and Shirley Thompson

ESAC 2012 Conference Chairs and Co-Presidents

Ecocultures 2012: Transitions to Sustainability

Ecocultures are communities from whom we can learn the art and science of sustainable living.

The aim of Ecocultures 2012 is to advance knowledge of how communities adapt successfully to social-ecological change, maintain resilience and enhance well-being. The conference will present and synthesise the best, current, multi-disciplinary perspectives of the barriers and bridges encountered by Ecocultures and how they can contribute to a global transition to sustainability.

Context

In an emerging ‘perfect storm’ of pervasive and sometimes turbulent ecological, social and cultural change human communities will need to find ways to adapt creatively and sustainably. In doing so, we will need to learn how to mitigate emerging global threats such as climate change and resource degradation through changes in individual behaviour, community actions, state-level responses and international governance. We will need to adapt – psychologically, socially, economically, politically and culturally – to the new social and environmental conditions of the anthropocene. And finally, we will need make these adaptations creatively, in a way that maintains or improves well-being. The scope and urgency of these challenges require us to critically examine current efforts to live sustainably, and understand the nature and mechanisms of sustainability.

The Ecocultures research programme at the University of Essex examines how traditional and newly emerging communities across the world are already responding to these challenges relatively successfully. Designated as ‘Ecocultures’, these communities provide living examples of sustainability in resilient social-ecological systems. They offer us lessons on how sustainability looks, possible pathways for transition, and offer hope that high levels of ecological well-being are consistent with the flourishing of society and culture. In doing so, they provide hope that there is more than one way to develop and more than one way to be happy, whilst maintaining a commitment to environmental and societal well-being.

The Ecocultures 2012 conference will bring together members of these communities, researchers who work with them, policy makers interested in applying their lessons and development practitioners looking for innovative ways to enhance social-ecological well-being. Together, we will examine the principles and practices of ‘Ecocultures’ from multiple disciplinary perspectives and at every scale, from the individual to the community and beyond. The questions we will address will range from the deepest organising principles of alternative development paradigms (how do the members of Ecocultures view their place in the world and accord value to nature?) to the practicalities of their social and economic organisation. We invite submissions from across the spectrum of the social sciences and humanities; trans-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary submissions are particularly encouraged.

Conference Themes

We invite submissions from academics, policy makers and development practitioners engaged in work on resilience and sustainability. Papers could include (but are not limited to) the following themes:

* Case studies on communities successfully adapting to social-ecological change;
* Historic examples of highly resilient communities and their current status;
* Analyses of the ‘traditional’ practices contributing to sustainable lifestyles, the stresses to which these provide resilience, and the barriers and bridges to the continued practice of such traditional lifestyles in today’s world;
* The emergence of ‘new’ Ecocultures, such as cultural revitalisation initiatives, ‘back to the land’ initiatives and the transition movement; the barriers and bridges to sustainability within these initiatives, the potential for their spread, their contribution to well-being and to social-ecological resilience at community level and beyond;
* Critical analyses of current and alternative notions of ‘development’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘resilience’;
* Analyses of struggles for resources: how do, for example, the extractive industries and multi-national corporations affect the sustainability of communities;
* Conflicts between different notions and practices of ‘sustainability’;
* Meta-analyses of the social, economic, political and cultural barriers and bridges to sustainability;
* Analyses of the role played by current policies, economic and corporate initiatives for ‘sustainability’, including the potential for sustainable governance, the links between international trade and sustainable growth, and the potential role played by consumer awareness, environmental regulations, new methods of environmental valuation and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Conference keynote address

One of the conference’s keynote addresses will be delivered by Professor Jules Pretty, Professor of Environment and Society at the University of Essex.

He is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability and Resources), Pro-Vice-Chancellor responsible for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. His books include This Luminous Coast (2011), Nature and Culture (co-authored, 2010), The Earth Only Endures (2007), Environment (4 vols, ed 2006), The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture (2005, ed), The Pesticide Detox (2005, ed), Agri-Culture (2002) and Regenerating Agriculture (1995). He is a Fellow of the Society of Biology and the Royal Society of Arts, former Deputy-Chair of the Government’s Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), and has served on advisory committees for a number of government departments. He is currently member of the Lead Expert Group for the UK Government’s Foresight Global Food and Farming Futures Project, member of the Expert Panel for UK National Ecosystem Assessment and member of BBSRC’s Strategy Advisory Board. He received an OBE in 2006 for services to sustainable agriculture, and an honorary degree from Ohio State University in 2009.

Conference Arrangements

The conference will take place on the Colchester campus of the University of Essex from the morning of Tuesday, 17th April until the afternoon of Wednesday, 18th April 2012. Conference costs will be kept to a minimum and confirmed by the end of January 2012.

For maps and travel directions, see http://www.essex.ac.uk/about/getting_here/

Submissions and Contacts

Paper proposals, in the form of an abstract (400-700 words) and Panel proposals (max 1000 words), should be sent to Prof. Steffen Böhm (steffen@essex.ac.uk) and Zareen Bharucha (zpbhar@essex.ac.uk) by 16th January 2012. Please make reference to the conference in the subject line of your email by marking it ‘Ecocultures 2012’. Authors will be notified of acceptance by 30th January 2012.

For general inquiries, please email Zareen Bharucha (zpbhar@essex.ac.uk). A visa letter can be provided for delegates who will require it for travel to the UK. Please let us know if you need one.

From the Outside In:  Sustainable Futures for Global Cities and Suburbs

A Conference at Hofstra University

Thursday-Saturday, November 8-10, 2012

This three-day conference will focus on sustainable futures in global city-regions, taking the suburbs as its starting point and working its way inward to the city center.  The conference will focus primarily on the New York metropolitan area, though we also seek participation from experts working in other cities around the world.

We seek an interdisciplinary discussion about sustainability that bridges the environmental, economic, and social spheres within complex urban regions.  While the insights of environmental science may guide efforts to reduce and mitigate the environmental effects of car-dependent suburban lifestyles, we must also consider how suburban and urban economics, politics, and cultures may limit or enable different forms of environmental stewardship, policy, and planning.  It is becoming clear, at many scales, that equity and environmental goals are often indivisible in building the political will needed to achieve sustainability.  It is thus critical to consider access to transportation, health care, and education in the context of social equity and environmental justice.

When considering the suburbs’ place within a metropolis that wrestles with environmental degradation and social inequality, it is also important to recognize variation among suburbs.   As suburbs of New York and other global cities are home to growing numbers of elderly, low-income, and immigrant residents, the conference will examine where the collective burdens fall today, how proposed solutions will affect particular groups, and how communities can be engaged in the decision-making process.

We plan to bring together academics, practitioners, and community leaders, so that they can identify barriers to achieving a sustainable region, as well as pioneering solutions for the future.  This conference will provide opportunities to share working models and visions for the sustainable suburb, and discuss how these solutions can be implemented.  We welcome proposals for individual papers, organized sessions, and round-tables that address a wide range of themes relevant to the future of metropolitan regions.  Topics might include, but are not limited to:

*       Sustainability and regional water, energy, waste, and transportation systems
*       Environmental justice and community engagement
*       The role of finance in creating a sustainable region
*       Green job creation
*       Methodological challenges in planning, measuring, and benchmarking sustainability
*       Affordability and the green suburb
*       Technological innovation and green industries
*       The effects of growing diversity on sustainability
*       Designing and retrofitting green suburbs, and certifying green buildings
*       The future of regional planning and Smart Growth
*       Pollution, brownfield redevelopment, and remediation in industrial suburbs
*       The role of government action and multiscalar collaboration
*       Social media and sustainability
*       Green activism and sustainability education
*       Climate change, hazards, and resiliency

Researchers will have an opportunity to submit their papers for review and possible publication in a special issue of the new Journal of Suburban Sustainability.

An abstract submission console is available at  http://www.hofstra.edu/sustainablefutures.  Individual paper abstracts should be limited to 200 words and submitted through the conference website before March 15, 2012.  Proposals for organized paper sessions, panels, and round-tables should be sent to the conference directors, Robert Brinkmann and Christopher Niedt, at hofstrasustainability2012@gmail.com as soon as possible; please include the names and contact information for all confirmed and potential participants.  The organizers will confirm paper acceptance/rejection by mid-May.

(Le texte français suit)

Call for Papers:

Beyond the Culture of Nature: Rethinking Canadian and Environmental Studies

Location: The University of British Columbia, Vancouver campus (http://www.canadianstudies.ubc.ca/)
Date: 29-30 September, 2012

Canadian and Environmental Studies are two fields in transformation.  Initiated in part as emancipatory projects in the 1970s, seeking to define subjects and articulate their meanings, the two fields have diverged and been complicated by shifting ideas about nation and nationalism on the one hand, and the environment and sustainability on the other.  Wilderness once stood as a central shared concern of the two fields, but constructivist critiques have highlighted its associations with race, gender, settler societies and social power, and the discourse of sustainability has transcended wilderness as a cultural and linguistic artifact, reliant on a binary vision of nature and culture.  This conference asks what has replaced the culture of nature that once provided common ground for Canadian and Environmental Studies?  How do area and interdisciplinary studies intersect, and with what benefits and problems?  Does a shared agenda remain?  This conference seeks to bring Canadian and Environmental Studies scholars together to discuss and debate the relations of their two fields and imagine the intertwined futures of Canadian and Environmental Studies.

Possible conference themes include:

The place of nature in Canadian Studies

The place of Canada in Environmental Studies

What’s left of wilderness and the culture of nature?

Understanding Canada, regions and places in a world of global flows and environmental processes

How to apply: Paper proposals for the conference should be 250 words in length and accompanied by a one-page c.v. We welcome proposals for individual papers, whole panels and poster presentations.  We are seeking funding to provide partial support for graduate student participants.

Proposal Deadline: Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Please send queries and proposals to Matthew Evenden, Chair of Canadian Studies, University of British Columbia at: CNS-conference2012@geog.ubc.ca

—-

Appel de Communications:

Au-delà de la culture de la nature: Repenser les études canadiennes et environnementales.

Lieu: Université de Colombie-Britannique, Campus de Vancouver (http://www.canadianstudies.ubc.ca/)
Date: 29 et 30 septembre 2012

Les études canadiennes et les études environnementales sont deux champs en transformation. Entrepris en partie en tant que projets émancipatoires au cours des années 1970, cherchant à définir des sujets et à élaborer leurs significations, ces deux champs d’études ont divergés et se sont complexifiés en même temps que les notions de nation et de nationalisme, ainsi que celle d’environnement et de durabilité, se recomposaient. Autrefois une préoccupation commune de ces deux champs, la nature sauvage (wilderness) est dorénavant associée à la race, au genre, aux sociétés coloniales et au pouvoir social, par les critiques constructivistes. Quant au discours sur la durabilité, il a transcendé la nature sauvage en tant qu’artefact culturel et linguistique, tributaire d’une vision binaire de la nature et de la culture. Cette conférence s’interroge sur ce qui a remplacé la culture de la nature en tant que point commune des études canadiennes et environnementales ? Comment est-ce que les « area studies » et les études interdisciplinaires s’entrecoupent, avec quels bénéfices et quels problèmes ? Existent-ils encore des points de convergence? Cette conférence cherche à rassembler les chercheurs en études canadiennes et environnementales pour discuter et débattre de la relation entre les deux champs d’études et d’imaginer un avenir commun en études canadiennes et environnementales.

Thèmes de conférence possibles:
-       La place de la nature dans les études canadiennes
-       La place du Canada dans les études environnementales
-       Que reste-il de la nature sauvage et de la culture de la nature ?
-       Comprendre le Canada, les régions et les lieux dans un monde de circulations globales et de processus environnementaux.

Comment soumettre une proposition: Les propositions de communication ne doivent pas dépasser 250 mots et elles doivent être accompagnées d’un c.v. d’une page. Nous accueillons favorablement les propositions pour les communications individuelles, pour un panel et les présentations par affiches scientifiques. Nous recherchons des fonds pour offrir un soutien partiel aux étudiants diplômés participants.

DATE LIMITE : MERCREDI, 1er FÉVRIER 2012
Veuillez faire parvenir les requêtes et les propositions à Matthew Evenden, Chair of Canadian Studies, University of British Columbia, à l’adresse suivante : CNS-conference2012@geog.ubc.ca

Matthew Evenden
Associate Professor
Department of Geography
Chair of Canadian Studies
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, CANADA V6T 1Z2
http://blogs.ubc.ca/waterhistory/